Roll Over Beethoven - ELO | The Midnight Special

[@JohnPeterson-m9l]

That was my introduction to ELO, i was 15 and was learning guitar then, and was absolutely knocked out by this. I was a fan from that day forward.

[@demonicsweaters]

ELO are such an insane band. Jeff Lynne is a true genius.

[@basilowen1100]

Late 70's ...Out of the Blue Tour...lights out...Cellists running on stage in spotlights playing the intro to this song while holding their instruments upside down over their heads...the stage lights come up and there is the giant ufo from the album cover above the stage. BEST OPENING TO A SHOW EVER!!!!!

[@janetduncan87]

Nobody can ever top this!!! The bass and violinist are absolutely amazing!!! Playing hard and jamming with guitars. Simply outrageous and fun.

[@THEHERMANATORANDSPURGLE2833]

Bravo! Bravo! A special round of applause for the strings section as they absolutely killed it. Thanks Jeff for your talents throughout the decades.

[@mudhens4ever]

Wow! They gave us one heck of a lot of entertainment in just 4 minutes and 47 seconds!

[@John-hc2ws]

Godamn , I've played guitar for 30 years. Ain't no rock star, but this one's in my top ten. I love elo.

[@ivanmay7890]

I had to give Electric Light Orchestra a couple of listens after I heard of the death of their longtime keyboard player Richard Tandy. RIP Richard Tandy, we will miss you and your excellent Minimoog playing.

[@gregoryduncan3067]

Uploading ELO videos is never the wrong thing to do.

[@John-hc2ws]

I miss the midnight special . Would come home late at nite, my old man still up, mom in bed. And we'd watch the midnight special.

[@blutomindpretzel1735]

Jeff Lynne is a genius. This channel rocks

[@concernedcitizen-1958]

With all due respect to Chuck Berry, ELO's cover of this song is the absolute best of all the many cover versions! ✌️ ☮️ ❤️🎶🎸🎶 🇺🇸

[@jacquelinecarty8579]

I like Chuck B's version best, followed by the Beatles. This is very good too

[@lowellcalavera6045]

That's just more subjective bullshit.

[@JeffLynnesELO2025Tour]

ELO the very best not even close!!! ❤

[@paulburton1545]

Definitely agree with that, I was at an ELO concert in 1980, and they always finish with it, Superb version, that was the original and best ELO, was at Birmingham, George Harrison and Paul McCartney were there. Jeff did a Beatles medilly for for John, Superb ❤

[@joepollard3228]

I don't think old Chuck had this in mind when he wrote it, but I'll bet he smiled all the way to the bank. And I believe he probably thought that this version was better than his.

[@neorich59]

Classic early ELO, before they started using a full string orchestra on their albums. This goes to places, harmonically, that Chuck Berry never took it, but still retains the essence of the original. Jeff Lynne, as a singer, writer and producer is right up there among my all time musical heroes! 🎸🎹🎻🎤

[@xavierjonelis4962]

I thought the recording was amazing.... But this is outstanding... ELO could perform this live..... Wow!!!😮 What expertise! The fusion of Beethoven and Chuck Berry with this hit is genius!

[@j40bob1]

It's not entirely live. Harmony vocal but no one else is at a mic? When they're clowning with the cellos, they can't be playing what we're hearing. And a grand piano would not sound like the tack piano we hear.

[@jroberts2nd]

Yeah no this is the single edit of the eight minute long version from the album. Not live at all. ELO could play it live but they didn’t here.

[@jameslanclos568]

June 29, 1973, I made my 18th birthday !!! I was born the same year Rock and Roll was born, 1955! Roll Over Beethoven.🎼🎹

[@barrysmith8920]

Never noticed the key change!!! Wow!! 😍😍😍😍😍

[@OWR0406]

Jeff Lynne is a genius

[@StephanieJeanne]

Fantastic!! ELO is one my favorite bands! They really rocked with the orchestral flavor!! This truly was an electrical performance!🙌😃

[@wjniemi]

Our band had a house gig at a country bar east of St. Paul in those days. This was before I94 was completed between Hudson and the Twin Cities, so it was an open access driveway into the club. We would regularly see 20+ big rigs in the parking lot. Anyway, I had done this song in a previous rock band and we decided to give it a go one night. The owner came up after the set and said "You know that new song you played just now? Don't play that one in here again." Lolololol those were the days.

[@dougphelps6917]

Hard to believe we got to watch this live... long live the Midnight Special!

[@that70sgirl90]

I saw him in concert in 2019. He did this song accompanied by a phenomenal light show! He had everyone Rock 'n' a Rollin'! It's Friday ... let's get the party started! 🥳 Happy Friday 🥳 Thank you for sharing! 💖

[@AlexMielnik]

We attended their concert here in Portland, Oregon…also 2019. Now it’s the ‘Over And Out’ final tour…of course we have tickets! The very first record I bought with own money at the age of 8 was ‘Out Of The Blue’…still have it…still listen to it…special record bought with cash 1977!

[@that70sgirl90]

@@AlexMielnik That's awesome! Thank you for sharing! 😊

[@AlexMielnik]

⁠@@that70sgirl90 yup!…we Jeff Lynne/ELO fans need to stick together…they’re making the rounds for their ‘Grand Finale’!

[@that70sgirl90]

@@AlexMielnik 👌😊

[@Merylstreep1949]

Midnight Special you are AWESOME AND GOD BLESS WOLFMAN JACK TOO

[@gordonglenn2089]

The Midnight Special show was my introduction to ELO. Sitting in a basement watching it live on a color TV!

[@iliketowatch.]

(2:40) In 1988, I visited Leningrad (previously and now again called St. Petersburg) in the USSR. While there, I visited the grave of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was during the winter and the grave was partially covered in snow. It was beautiful.

[@Music--ng8cd]

Wonder if he ever got the news. AC/DC said he had it, but I'm not so sure.

[@clintlewis8122]

My my these guys can play ❤❤

[@jeffnauer417]

My first concert when I was 15

[@smudgetherealmc]

One of the first singles I bought - aged 11

[@lowellcalavera6045]

Blows my mind. I remember this exact show like it was last week. Time flies.

[@mikejervis]

thats greatness

[@timtv2826]

Who knew you could play Rock n Roll with violins and cellos? Jeff Lynne did!!

[@kevinmorrill5656]

Proof that there have been a few incarnations of the great Electric Light Orchestra. But Jeff (and, for the most part, Richard) has been there since its inception.

[@smitbar11]

Keyboard player on here, Richard Tandy, passed away on the 1st of May two days ago, RIP

[@culturametal]

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸Fantastic 🎸

[@massapower]

1973 and still relevant BaBy!!😁🤟

[@JSwitz]

Bev Bevan! Great drummer

[@MusicLover10538]

ELITE ELO!!!

[@ysh77770]

名曲がパワーアップ👍

[@unculturedswine749]

THANK YOU!!!

[@pejaguilar30]

Maravilloso. Gracias Midnight Special.

[@celticamusicband]

Rock 'n' Roll perfection!!! 🤘🎸

[@franciscomariovasta4736]

Una genialidad

[@barrysmith8920]

I saw them play this live in Tucson Arizona 1974 on the El Dorado tour!!! IN-FOOKIN’’-SANE

[@rebeccamcdaniel1033]

Check KZbin for the London 1976 Fusion concert series. Jf you want to see them in full wide ON mode, watch their performance of Roll Over Beethoven. Of course, it's the encode. The whole show is tops, but that encode blows the roof completely away.

[@rebeccamcdaniel1033]

That should say encore. Autospell sux.

[@franciscomariovasta4736]

Espectacular

[@JeffLynnesELO2025Tour]

ELO forever!!!!

[@Sweetbutapsycho4]

Loved the Beatles version but this is SOMETHING ELSE ❤

[@classicrockfan8034]

This is the best version of this song musically. Love ELO and the Beatles.

[@katiewray2525]

Is there ANYTHING Jeff Lynne cant do??? The guy is just a musical genius.

[@janetduncan87]

Ahead of time

[@Dr_Paul_Proteus]

He's more than a musical genius... he's a Wilbury.

[@ManWithNoName2007]

Fantastic!!

[@elodevi]

Brillant with nthe intro !!! Thank you !!

[@themidnightspecialtvshow]

Glad you like it!

[@maria.fernanda277]

Wow!👏

[@M_C79]

Love all the surf riffs, I'd never noticed them before.

[@PookaDude42]

Shout-out to Mike de Albuquerque's Sgt. Pepper patch!

[@leolio8219]

"I am the walrus" is Jeff Lynne's favourite song, and his inspiration. Beatles forever.

[@carloshumbertoalvesdemoura]

Rock and Roll forever.

[@greglawrenz5648]

Thank you for these TMS videos.. Keep 'em coming (Especially the the 70's standards like ELO.. It great to see them develop as their careers took off) .. As a general list request: Who developed their acts on TMS over it's tenure ? .. Saw FleetwoodMac prior to Rumours[&Nick/Buckingham](That was eye opening)

[@ひろしさま]

こういうバンドだったのかぁ🎧

[@MaryMcRobert]

An Englush rock band.

[@maracalp2900]

Wow. cool. One request: Carmen - (Bulerias)

[@craigmiller1870]

The thing people don't think about because the electric guitar has been such a ubiquitous instrument the last 60 years, is that how uniquely played it is compared to most other instruments. The juxtaposition of the "classical" violin and cello compared to the electric guitar is brightly highlighted in this video. Critic: "But how is it uniquely played to other instruments?"

[@franciscomariovasta4736]

Para mi es la mejor versión, el violín vuela

[@markwatson9521]

The finest ELO song ever - despite the fact it's a Chuck Berry song.

[@timhoovermusicman]

Had no idea they ever did this...

[@BIZARBIES]

Wow.. crazy that the orchestra played so loud that they didn't need microphones. 😅

[@Eleventhearlofmars]

I think Jeff was singing live to a pre recorded backing track.

[@TheSteveSteele]

They have laviler mics taped to the tops of their instruments.

[@Eleventhearlofmars]

@@TheSteveSteeleI thought there was a possibility that they were mic’ed up but wasn’t certain. 👍🏼 although there are no wires connected to their instruments, wireless mics weren’t around in the early 70s.

[@TheSteveSteele]

@@Eleventhearlofmars Yeah, the beginning sounded like tape playback.

[@BIZARBIES]

@Steve Steele the 3 people playing the same cello was a dead giveaway too. Lol

[@theurbanspaceman420]

OMG,thanks,please upload blue bird its dead.

[@ardiris2715]

0:11 An acoustic pickup is clearly seen, but I still suspect the backing track is a playback. This is by far the best "live" version of ROB that I have heard. (:

[@heavyheadrecords]

hello, on this tv show; music is playback, vocals is live.. greetings

[@Music--ng8cd]

Also at 0:11, the Cellist in the background isn't even playing.

[@wimweender1306]

😊❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@xi6493]

❤❤❤

[@maurimartinez8720]

😮... 🔝👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@darrenrunning5415]

As good as this is, nothing beats the "balls to wall" album version.

[@neorich59]

Couldn't agree more. Especially as this is missing the guitar solo and Lynne''s vocal acrobatics at the end!

[@timhoovermusicman]

​@@neorich59 I never knew about either one😮

[@TheHosleyFamily]

Music prodigy

[@rigelmoon9030]

These guys will never amount to much. Who ever heard of using stringed instruments in rock 'n roll, for crisake?

[@alangreenway6695]

Ah yes, Ledvug Vun Beethovin, the overshadowdowed cousin of Ludwig Van Beethoven.

[@jillshinault9442]

Go Wilf!!

[@broonat]

I like The Diary of Horace Wimp. It's Beatlesque

[@markbataitis4851]

Jeff's vocals are live, but the instrumentation isn't.

[@heavyheadrecords]

hello, yes, on this tv show; music is playback, vocals is live.. greetings

[@pete3883]

On TV

[@pete3883]

who wears a cape ?

[@GNF54]

Wilf Gibson

[@giselemarcianolourenco6646]

Jeff está muito engraçado com essa roupa.

[@classicrockfan8034]

But he can freaking play and sing! Best band ever!

[@annonymousannonymous3429]

Lip sync'd? - Where is the 2nd singer? 3:42

[@heavyheadrecords]

hello, on this tv show; music is playback, lynne vocals is live.. greetings

[@tombrearton3435]

Must be the European spelling of *Beethoven*

[@honeychilerider]

Am I crazy or is the drummer just NOT playing what we're hearing? I don't really care if this is synched but the vocals seem live while I am not seeing the drummer play any of the hi-hat work that we hear.

[@danielteegarden8982]

1972

[@heavyheadrecords]

no.. is 1973.. greetings

[@markminer7390]

Jeff Lynne...more talent than hair and that's saying a lot... ; )

[@CJinsoo]

incredible performance, too bad audience is a dead fish

[@j40bob1]

There is no way that this is completely live. Harmony vocal but no one else is at a mic? When they're clowning with the cellos, they can't be playing what we're hearing. And a grand piano would not sound like the tack piano we hear.

[@GNF54]

From my understanding, everything is mimed besides Jeff’s vocals

[@John-hc2ws]

No, you've missed it. It's a tribute.

[@DKJB3434]

It sounds live. But on some parts I'm not sure if it's playback. The classical Instruments have no mics. What do you think?

[@cronejawford978]

Yep. Only Jeff's vocals were "live".

[@DKJB3434]

@@cronejawford978 thanks. Now it make sense to me.

[@briandowd1835]

All live !!

[@DKJB3434]

​@@briandowd1835 but why I hear more snare hits at 3:45 min. than he played?

[@longoan]

@@cronejawford978agree, vocals live, which are amazing in its self!